Kyrgyzstan

Koisunbubu is one of 2,000 remaining residents in Min-Kush that once was a key strategic structure in the Soviet nuclear programme and the source of uranium for its first atomic bombs. What previously was a prosperous township of 20,000 inhabitants turned into a dying isolated settlement where Koisunbubum, like others, stuggles to survive poverty and high levels of radiation.

Koisunbubu is hard at work in this part of Naryn province where there are almost no opportunities to earn a living. Thanks to the work opportunity WFP intervention created, Koisunbubu brought home a ration of high quality wheat flour enriched with micronutrients and vegetable oil.

Koisunbubu's grandchildren help her bake lepoyshkas (traditional Kyrgyz bread) using the fortified wheat flour she earned from participating in WFP's food-for-assets. She is the one raising the children after their parents had to leave to other parts of Kyrgyzstan in search for work.

The journey to Min-Kush is an arduous six-hour drive from the Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek on a barely passable road. The journey to the isolated community in Naryn province also takes you across three high-altitude mountain passes.

Dokturbek, a forester from Naryn Forestry, proudly shows a record of participants from Min-Kush who volunteered to plant trees on slopes prone to landslides. Work norms completed by each participant have been accurately recorded and served as the basis for distributing food incentives.

Food-for-assets participants take a short break before getting back to work. Led by experts from the regional forestry agency, a group of 30 volunteers climbed over rocky cliffs to plant about 14,000 trees on mountain slopes prone to landslides and mudslides. While paying immediate food dividends for volunteers, the benefits of this act would also last for years to come.

That is what the trees Min-Kush volunteers planted would look like in about 10 to 15 years. They would then securely protect Min-Kush from devastating landslides that could lead to the destruction of the exhausted uranium tailings surrounding the town.